Music & Cognitive Achievement in Children

Healthy interaction with one's environment is essential to proper growth and development in children. Studies have shown that interacting with music has a positive effect on a child's cognitive achievement.

Identification

• According to the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center in San Diego, cognitive development involves a child's ability to learn and solve problems, like learning how to solve math problems or how to explore the environment with their hands.

Function

• Jean Piaget, the foremost theorist on cognitive development, believed that a child could not reach all the proper stages of development without proper education.

Potential

• According to a Long Island University study, children who studied piano for three years as part of an instructional program developed significantly better vocabulary and verbal sequencing skills than children who did not.

Benefits

• A University of California study revealed that music played for its own sake has beneficial side effects on cognition.

Prevention/Solution

• With widespread knowledge of music's benefits to cognitive achievement, lack of funding in school music programs has become a growing concern. In 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a budget of $55.1 billion in education spending, a good portion of it devoted to school music programs.